March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Fedea, a Spanish research institute
that’s critical of the government’s policies, will be led
starting next month by Angel de la Fuente, an economist
previously picked by Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro to audit
regional funding.

De la Fuente, an expert in regional economics at the
University of Barcelona, said the think tank, best known for its
No Free Lunch blog, will refrain from getting involved in
politics in future.

“Fedea shouldn’t do such things; it should be
apolitical,” de la Fuente said in a phone interview today. The
institute’s current focus is “generally good,” he added, and
it will research regional issues, transport, tax and regulation.

The Madrid-based institute raised its profile during the
financial crisis with its blog, which reached as many as 183,000
monthly readers featuring writers from Columbia Business School,
the London School of Economics and the University of
Pennsylvania mixing political commentary with economic analysis.

De la Fuente, who starts as executive director on April 1,
said he hasn’t decided what will happen to the blog. A Fedea
spokeswoman confirmed the appointment.

Fedea, which carries out economic research and is financed
by companies including Iberdrola SA and Banco Santander SA,
created its blog early in the crisis and published criticism of
both the Socialist and People’s Party administrations. It
attracted most attention in June 2012 when three contributors
wrote a front-page editorial in El Pais newspaper calling for a
new government six months after current Prime Minister Mariano
Rajoy took office.

‘Mistake’

“That was a mistake,” de la Fuente, 51, said.

De la Fuente was chosen by the institute’s patrons, which
include the Bank of Spain and companies including Abertis SA and
Repsol SA. He is a specialist in regional finances and has
written articles in El Pais disputing the Catalan regional
government’s assertions about the benefits of independence.

A Bank of Spain spokesman declined to comment.

Montoro chose de la Fuente to lead a study into what each
region pays out and receives from the national tax system. That
report is being prepared as the government negotiates a new
system for financing the regions.